Hi Scotty! first time on here, hoping for an opinion, I have a 2013 dodge grand caravan, the wife loves it, I think I have a exhaust leak at the head. The reason I think that is when it's cold out I hear it but it goes away when it warms up. I've looked into replacing the gasket but the configuation and the studs in the aluminum head worry me. It looks like I could get into removing the studs from the aluminum head, I've had luck with taking a battery and heating a stud for removal but it looks very hard to get to, and if 1 messes up it looks like the only choice is to remove the head to be able to get to it. I was thinking of putting a shop vac on the exhaust pipe then making a surry of waterglass and let it get sucked in, do u think that would work or would I be in danger of it getting into the catylitic converter? Would this last? If I leave it alone I'm concerned it will etch the aluminum head mating surface is that so? Or should I just get rid of it now? It's been reliable, just maintenance stuff, though parts are expensive. Oh yeah it's got 107000 miles runs like new, nobody has touched it but me.
Years ago I made the decision not to do exhaust work on my cars (or anybody else's cars).
It's always a nasty job.
This is one vehicle system where I pay a shop to do the repairs and to deal with torching the studs/nuts, extracting broken studs, and the face full of rust dust and skinned up knuckles.
Even if they overcharge me $100, it's worth it for me because I don't want the aggravation.
I'm not a fan of Chrysler, but if your wife likes the van, ......"call the man" and let him deal with it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa1ez7yL_T4
Wish I could give you ten up votes for that! I avoid working on exhaust like the plague as well. Fortunately we have a very good exhaust shop in the area that's been around for ages and does great work at fair prices. In fact I just had them do some exhaust work on one of my vehicles a few days ago.
omg exhaust manifold work ... on a minivan?? ... count me out!
I think I would rather get a root canal.
I was thinking of putting a shop vac on the exhaust pipe then making a surry of waterglass and let it get sucked in
That is an astonishingly bad idea.
should I just get rid of it now?
Survey says it is likely to start having expensive problems in the not too distant future.
https://www.carcomplaints.com/Dodge/Grand_Caravan/2013/
Why? I've used waterglass on the exhaust pipe to manifold on a 7.3 ps, worked great
You're fortunate you didn't ruin the catalytic converter(s).
it's a 97 doesn't have one
Well that's a horse of a different color then.
you mean , it HAD one, but doesn't any more.
U are correct that I am not the original owner, but I crawled under and looked because a mechanic talked me into using cataclean and I was curious when the suggestion didn't work, the turbo was shot. Does not appear to have been modified.
But we're off topic, what should I do on the caravan? Has anyone dealt with these heads with integral manifolds? Will I be able to drill out a stud that I can't get out? Or room to weld a nut on?
I really don't want to pull a head off to remove a stud.
I have a 2013 dodge grand caravan with 107000 miles, I have a exhaust leak where the pipe flange bolts to the head but I hear it only when cold. Will the bolts in the head need to be replaced? and can I get to them without removing the head? If they break will the head have to be removed to get the bolts out?
Why did you post this when you previously asked about this problem? Please take note of the following in the forum rules. Thank you. (Topics merged.)
Well, because I thought I didn't ask a ? in a way that made sense, that's why I didn't get any help. I thought surely I'm not the only one with this problem.
Regardless it is against forum rules, the intent of which is to keep the information about a particular problem together in the same thread instead of scattered in different places on the board. All you need to do if you want to rephrase your question or push it to the top for more attention is add a response to the original post.
thanks
No problem. I changed the title of this thread to something hopefully more appropriate that might attract more attention. (Exhaust manifold studs are generally a pain in the posterior to deal with. I've never worked on your particular vehicle though.)
Just to get a better view on the problem:
there is a leak between block and exhaust manifold expected;
the gasket between these should be renewed;
the block is Al, and has steel studs to mount the manifold on it;
the manifold is bolted on using nuts.
The fear is, the nuts will come off and take the studs with them...
Is this correct and the problem?
BTW: what does waterglass do, can it replace/repair a gasket in this situation?
